Ignacio de Alava

Ignacio Maria de Alava y Saenz de Navarrete (24 October 1750-26 May 1817) was an admiral of the Spanish navy.

Biography
At the age of sixteen Alava joined the Spanish navy, serving in the Siege of Gibraltar during the American Revolutionary War in 1781. In October 1782 he served in the Battle of Cape Spartel and he not only fought in the French Revolutionary Wars ten years later but reorganized the Philippines Navy in 1794.

In 1805 he fought in the Battle of Trafalgar against Horatio Nelson's British fleet, and he was severely wounded and the Santa Ana captured by the British. In 1808 he joined the Junta of Seville in the Peninsular War against the French, and became Admiral of the Spanish Fleet in March 1817. He died soon after.